Working with a group of business leaders in the Shreveport, Louisiana region, RTS is looking at ways to increase the ability of minority entrepreneurs and small business owners to compete and prosper.  In 2008, RTS reported back to the  Strategic Action Council of Northwest Louisiana on the most important economic development challenges and opportunities facing the region, identifying issues relating to the numbers and capacity of minority-owned businesses as critical. The SAC agreed with that assessment and has asked RTS to further investigate the challenges facing these firms and to develop a plan to begin to ensure their success.  RTS staff will conduct extensive on-the-ground interviews and focus groups with entrepreneurs and owners in the region to find out what exactly they see are the most important barriers to their success and how the region can help them grow.

RTS recognizes the importance of capital access to entrepreneurs and small businesses.  Recently, through our work with the Rapides Foundation, we commissioned an analysis of the capital market for small businesses in Central Louisiana.  The report, Assessment of the Capital Market in Central Louisiana identifies what gaps exist both in terms of types of capital and in skill-building services available to entrepreneurs.  Our friends Deb Markley of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, and Dr. David Barkley of Clemson University prepared the report.